In the Darkness, Laughing
by LianneZ4
Summary: Rachel loves puzzles and all those little pieces. However, sometimes there are still things that surprise her.


**IN THE DARKNESS, LAUGHING**

 **Summary:** Rachel loves puzzles and all those little pieces. However, sometimes there are still things that surprise her.

* * *

She has spent months planning, preparing everything down to the last detail. But this… this is simply too good to be true.

It is _unexpected_.

Rachel reads the news once more, just to make sure it says the same thing as the first time. Only then does she allow herself to fully contemplate the knowledge.

So he might have crossed a line or four for Caffrey, but there is no way that Saint Peter Burke actually _murdered_ someone. But the truth doesn't matter, appearances are more than enough. And now…

Rachel doesn't laugh maniacally – she's not a supervillain; she has some restraint and such things are beneath her. She does however allow herself a small, delighted smile.

Oh, but how _perfect_ this is.

Not even in his wildest dreams has she imagined something like this.

She finally has the last piece for her game.

o - o - o

She spent several months studying Neal Caffrey; ever since he came back from his Cape Verde adventure. It was shortly after the owner had loaned the Mosconi Codex to the museum – almost like a sign, if she believed in such things. Instead, Rachel watched Caffrey for three weeks before she decided that he would be perfect for her purpose.

He was a worthy opponent who would get her the diamond and keep her entertained for the foreseeable future. It was only a matter of choosing the right play.

Rachel knew she couldn't threaten Caffrey directly, not if she wanted to control him. No matter what old scheme of his she dug up, he was too slippery and too smart to let himself be manipulated, and there was too much risk that her scheme would fail. And Rachel hated failure.

No, she would have much better odds with going after him indirectly. Fortunately, her dear, wonderful Neal had plenty of people close to him, and with that anklet of his, he was a sitting duck and easy to target once she struck any of those weak points.

It did take her a while to sort them out.

Kathryn Hill was killed before she could be used; Neal's father was not close enough to him yet. The FBI agents were useless as well: for one thing, they were _FBI agents_ , but the bigger issue was that Neal wasn't going to fall on his sword for someone like Diana Berrigan or Clinton Jones. He was noble, but not _that_ noble, and he was a pragmatic too. Rachel liked that about him.

June Ellington was the next who got struck off the list. It wasn't that she wasn't vulnerable, or that Caffrey didn't care enough – but the likelihood that Neal would involve Peter Burke was simply too big; plus the old woman was well-liked by many people. Old Madame Ellington had some powerful connections, both legal and from her shady past; besides, it took a con to know a con, and Rachel could tell that June would be dangerous to approach. No, the landlady wouldn't do at all.

Elizabeth Burke on the other hand looked quite promising. Her business made it easier to insert a mole into her life. She wasn't trained as an agent nor did she have a criminal past – in plenty of ways, she was the textbook example of an innocent bystander and perfect for a damsel in distress. The one major disadvantage was the risk of Peter Burke getting involved. Elizabeth might work, but Rachel remembered Matthew Keller and the consequences of his failed little kidnapping scheme. Not a first choice, then.

Mozzie never even made the list. The best way to target Caffrey's short friend would be through the Detroit mob, but that option was too volatile, too unpredictable, and Rachel preferred precision over wild, blunt force. Besides, the clever little rat had half the criminals on the East coast eating out of his hand (she kind of admired how he managed that, despite his association with a known snitch), and she had heard how all of them had rallied together when the little man had been shot. But most of all, Mozzie would simply go underground if things got tough and Neal knew that. As a short term leverage, maybe – but Rachel was putting too much effort into this to have the fun end so soon.

Which left Sara Ellis.

Rachel genuinely liked Sara. She was tough, and Rachel respected tough; she was borderline ruthless when she was pursuing her goals, and Rachel almost wished that Sara didn't work for the wrong side. Sara was a force to be reckoned with – on a personal level at least. She would be an interesting challenge.

And really, for a short while, Neal's repo girlfriend had seemed like the most convenient option. A deeper glance revealed that Sara had very few close ties, very few people surrounding her, which was another thing that made her the perfect target. She was Neal's girlfriend, and that brought memories of Kate, who Neal had _failed_ so spectacularly in the past. With a little careful pushing, Caffrey would be too paranoid, too scared to ask for help from the FBI or his friends if the life of his One True Love was at stake.

And Sara operated in the gray areas, too; plus she cared about Neal. If Rachel was right, she had already broken the law for Caffrey at least once. She could threaten her life or she could set her up for a crime – maybe she could have Sara cover up for one of Caffrey's old schemes and then threaten to expose her. It would be tricky, but the possibilities were endless and the potential was there; she just needed more information.

Rachel applied for a job at Sterling&Bosch.

A day before her first job interview, she learned that Sara was leaving for London. At first, Rachel contemplated breaking into Sara's apartment and exchanging her birth control pills for placebo, hopefully averting her departure. She couldn't even say why she decided against it in the end – maybe it was too unpredictable, maybe because the pregnancy might not be in time before Sara left for London. Her window of opportunity closing, Rachel withdrew her application from Sterling&Bosh and scratched that plan. Sara was no longer a viable option.

Which brought her back to Elizabeth Burke.

Should she stay at the museum or insert herself into Elizabeth's company?

For all the adjustments, it also opened up new opportunities. "Rebecca" could become Neal's girlfriend instead of a distant figure; she could feed him more information about the Mosconi code. And Elizabeth might not be a con or a cop, but she was interesting in her own way. The way she had escaped from Keller's lackeys had been brilliant and inspired. Maybe, Elizabeth could turn out to be a fun challenge after all.

Still, all of there people – June, Elizabeth, even Sara – they had always been a second choice at best.

 _Rachel had never expected to get a chance at Peter Burke at all._

o - o - o

She needs a front man; that much has been obvious from the very beginning.

Before, she was considering several people. It was a shame that Matthew Keller was in a Russian prison, otherwise he would have been an interesting piece. But maybe it was just as well. Rachel would have loved playing _with_ Keller and _against_ Keller, but in the end, Keller was too much like her, with too much of his own agenda. Wesley Kent… not ruthless enough. Ryan Wilkes wasn't getting out of prison anytime soon, and the same went for Robert MacLeish. Ghovat "The Ghost" was a little _too_ smart to be Rachel's patsy.

In the end, it came down to three names: Edward Walker "The Architect", who was cocky but aggressive; Curtis Hagen "The Dutchman", an art restorer and a killer with his own huge ego; and taiji-master "not-quite-a-white-knight" Bryan McKenzie, who had a personal reason to be pissed off at Caffrey and who had been Rachel's first choice when Sara had been her chosen target.

However, once Peter Burke is arrested and his prosecutor chosen, it becomes clear that Hagen is the only right man for the job.

Rachel promises him freedom and revenge. Hagen jumps at the chance with obvious glee – a little _too_ much glee. Rachel knows he enjoys confronting his opponents directly, and she can tell he's looking forward to watching Neal squirm. That is fine, unless it becomes a problem.

On one hand, Hagen's thirst for payback will make this so much easier for her. On the other hand, she can easily see him ruining everything if his emotional involvement compromises his judgment.

"Let's clear something up," Rachel says with a smile when she meets Hagen at the restoration site. "You get your freedom. I get the Codex. And if you jeopardize the plan in _any_ way because of your revenge scheme, I'll kill you. Understand, Curtis?"

Hagen coughs. "Perfectly."

"Good," says Rachel as she withdraws her blade from his nether regions. It has been laughably easy to smuggle it through the metal detectors.

And just like that, she has her front man, and every piece is falling right in place.

o - o - o

After all that planning, it's almost an agony to postpone for any longer, but Rachel is nothing if not patient. She stops Hagen from acting too fast, because they need Caffrey in the right mindset; desperate enough that he would make a deal with the devil.

Finally, less than three days before Burke's indictment hearing, Rachel gives Hagen the nod.

"It's really poetic," says Hagen sensually, sipping at a glass of wine while the guards who are supposed to be watching him are taking a convenient break.

"Poetic? How is that?" asks Rachel curiously.

Hagen smiles. "Caffrey helped Burke catch me to earn his freedom. Now he's going to set me free and bring them both down. Poetic justice at its best."

"As long as you don't fuck it up," Rachel warns him.

"Of course not, dear. I'm simply very grateful for being a part of this." Hagen pauses. "To successful partnerships!"

"To new beginnings," says Rachel and takes a sip from her own glass.

A few moments later, she watches as Hagen sends Neal the text.

" _I can help Burke. Opera house. 5:00 P.M. Come alone."_

Hagen still chatters about how _wonderful_ it will be to see Neal on his knees. When she sees that hunger, Rachel realizes she will have to kill him sooner than she expected, because Hagen is going to become a liability. Well, she had always planned to do it eventually, and Hagen was never really interesting enough anyway.

She allows herself a full smile this time.

 _The game is on._


End file.
